Better Legacies
by wintergreen825
Summary: Sometimes the people who raise us serve as an example of what not to do.


**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

**Author's Note:** So, same-fooding is a thing, and it's actually one of the things they look for with autism. Not every autistic does this, but a lot of us do.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 10); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** In a Flash (N); Yellow Ribbon (Y); Yellow Ribbon Redux (N); Sett to Destroy (N); Gryffindor MC (N); Seeds (N); Forehead Kisses (?); Advice from the Mug (Y); Neurodivergent (N); Quiet Time (N)  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 10 – Assignment 7  
**Subject (Task No.):** Ghost Hunting (Task #2: Write about someone depleting their energy.)  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** 365 Words [96](Obscure); Insane Prompt Challenge [693](Start & End the fill with the same word); Scavenger Hunt [70](Write a Next-Gen fic.); Constellation Club [Columba] (Gamma Columbae: Promise [word]); Pinata (Next-Gen); Auction [2.3] (Teddy Lupin); Zoo-Lover [Lion] (Write about a Gryffindor.); Elizabeth Appreciation [Elizabeth Lavenza] (Write about someone adopted.)  
**Space Address (Prompt):** 5E (Childhood)  
**Representation(s):** Autistic Harry Potter; Autistic Teddy Lupin; Potter-Lupin Household; Past Child Abuse  
**Bonus Challenges: **Found Family; Nontraditional; Teat Juice; Machismo; Second Verse (Persistence Still); Chorus (Wabi Sabi)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Terse; Thimble); SN (Rail; Amerliorate)  
**Word Count:** 864

(^^)  
**Better Legacies**  
(^^)

Teddy raced off as soon as they reached the playground. Harry watched him go with nothing more than a shake of the head. The little boy had been cooped up all day because of the rain, and frankly, he had been driving Harry up the wall with his extra energy. Molly and Andromeda both assured him that four-year-olds were just like that, but sometimes Harry really wondered if Teddy truly was completely normal. Harry had his suspicions about how inheritable lycanthropy really was, because a lot of issues that Teddy had—like the inexhaustible energy level—seemed to grow and wane with the moon.

Knowing that Teddy would not go farther than the swings on the other side of the park, Harry settled on the ground beneath an old oak. The spot gave him the best sightlines of the whole area, and while he had ultimately decided that becoming an Auror wasn't for him, some habits taught in the Academy never died. Harry set about unpacking the bag they had brought. He spread the well-charmed blanket over the bumpy ground first before pulling out the latest batch of homework he had for his A-Levels.

For all that it had been the best fit for him (and for Teddy, too), returning predominantly to the Muggle world had meant catching up on a lot of things. Luckily, Harry was used to juggling multiple things at once and essentially teaching himself. It meant that it had only taken a year to be able to pass his GCSEs before facing the difficult decision of what to focus on for his A-Levels.

Teddy had been the ultimate deciding factor on what to pursue.

The little boy had found a snake nest in their back garden last year, just as the eggs had started hatching. Harry had heard the commotion caused by excited toddler meeting excited newborns. Seeing the boy surrounded by tiny snakes that had ridged scales bearing a very distinctive zig-zag pattern had been frightening enough. To realize that said tiny snakes sounded like they were babbling was even scarier.

Thank god for Luna and her knowledge of obscure magical topics, or Harry would have been panicking about the possibility of Voldemort not being truly gone for good.

But learning that Parseltongue could not be transferred or taught had brought up a few interesting ideas for what to focus on in his studies. Herpetology had a lot of applications, even before crossing over to magical species. Luna studied with him occasionally, because preparation for zoology had a lot of common topics with herpetology. Rupert, the melanistic hatchling from the nest that Teddy had found, also helped, if only by explaining different things from a snake's point of view.

Harry settled into their afternoon out. He did some studying while Teddy ran between the different areas of the park, emphasis on the running aspect. The child spent a lot of his time in the open spaces between the play equipment. Occasionally, another child would join him in racing around in the intricate track Teddy was tracing through the park. Today being the new moon showed in how easily Teddy accepted those children joining in his game. Closer to the full moon, Teddy was less likely to be this outgoing. Thankfully, he was out of his biting phase now. That was a rough six months.

In the end, Harry ended up just leaning against the oak and watching his godson run around in circles. Finally, the small boy started slowing down. Harry subtly packed away everything before moving to the bench near the entrance to wait. Teddy came up to him and wrapped his little arms around Harry's neck.

"Can we have cheese sandwiches for dinner?" Teddy whispered like it was a secret. Harry didn't even need to think about it.

"Yeah, we can, cub," Harry answered, not letting even a hint of his frustration leak into his voice.

Molly tended to have _things to say_ about how often Harry let Teddy pick and choose what they ate. It was exhausting to defend, even if Harry would never change his stance on food not being a battle he would fight. He had gone hungry too much to ever pick a fight over Teddy desire for specific foods, even when they had had cheese sandwiches for lunch and breakfast as well. Andromeda was used to it, because Tonks had done the same food thing as a child, but Molly always wanted to try to force the issue, even when it only ended with Teddy in tears and hungry.

Nutritional potions were laughably easy to brew, so easy that they weren't taught at Hogwarts because they were considered pre-first-year material. If Teddy wanted to eat nothing but cheese sandwiches for the rest of his life, he could do so and still be healthy.

"Promise?" Teddy slurred, already sounding half asleep now that he had depleted his restless energy. Harry pressed a kiss to his forehead before he adjusted his grip on the four-year-old and stood up. In a well-practiced maneuver, he got the strap of the bag secured on his shoulder. Then Harry started carrying his godson towards their home.

"_Always_, Teddy."


End file.
